Circuit configuration for position lights

ABSTRACT

A circuit configuration for switching navigation lights of a watercraft, especially a sailing vessel, includes elements that prevent a position light configuration from not being in compliance with regulations as well as elements that prevent navigation lights that have mutually exclusive meanings from being switched on at the same time, and a single multiway switch ( 1 ) with which the navigation lights and additional lights, that are independent therefrom can be switched.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The application relates to a circuit configuration for switchingnavigation lights of a watercraft, especially a sailing vessel,comprising at least one switch. Of course, the invention is alsocorrespondingly applicable to engine-powered vessels.

2. Description of the Prior Act

At night or in bad visual conditions watercraft must switch onnavigation lights. By means of the navigation lights it is possible foran observer to decide from afar whether the watercraft is anchored, ismoving, in which direction it is moving, and/or whether it is powerdriven. Also, additional information can be communicated, for example inregard to whether the watercraft is partially or completely incapable ofmaneuvering, or, if it is a fishing vessel, whether it has cast nets oris trawling.

The navigation lights include a forwardly oriented white masthead lightand an aft oriented white stern light as well as two sidelights, ofwhich a red one indicates the port side and a green one indicates thestarboard side of the watercraft. The latter can also be combined in alantern. Moreover, the navigation lights include, inter alia, a whiteanchor light, a yellow trawling light, quick flashing lights, as well aswhite, red and green all-round lights.

At night, a sailing vessel must have switched on the sidelights and thestern light when it is moving and thus is neither anchored not incapableof maneuvering. Instead of these navigation lights, a three-colorlantern can be positioned on the masthead when a sailing vessel up to 20m length is not operated under engine power.

As soon as the sailing vessel is assisted by the engine, the sidelights,the masthead light and the stern light must be switched on in any case,regardless of whether the sailing vessel is moving at the same timeunder sail or not. A three color lantern as well as, optionally, thealso permissible all-round lights (red over green) would have to beswitched off in this situation.

The activation of the masthead light is of special importance inasmuchas it is important for the determination of right-of-way rules.Accordingly, a power driven sailing vessel must always yield to a craftpowered only by sail.

When a watercraft is anchored, one or more anchor lights must beswitched on, depending on its length. In this case, the masthead light,stern light, and sidelights must be switched off.

It is conventional to secure each of the navigation lights individuallyby means of an automatic circuit-breaker. In this way, the regulations,for example, those of Germanische Lloyd, for watersport crafts arecomplied with.

Since in this way, the navigation lights can be switched independentlyof one another, it is possible that navigation lights with contradictoryinformation are switched on at the same time, or that a lightconfiguration that is not in compliance with regulations and/or isinsufficient is activated. When in the case of a watercraft, forexample, the masthead light and stern light are illuminated without thesidelights being switched on, this could be interpreted from afar as ananchored vessel which could have disastrous consequences.

It is an object of the invention to provide a circuit configuration ofthe aforementioned kind, with which a maloperation is prevented, whichprovides a simplified operation, and which fulfills the existingregulations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem is solved my means which prevent switching on at the sametime lights which have mutually exclusive meanings as well as exclude alight combination not being in compliance with regulations, i.e. alsoincomplete.

For this purpose, different means can be used. For example, it ispossible to employ toggle switches arranged adjacent to one another forswitching on the anchor light, the sidelights as well as the mastheadlight and the stern light, respectively, wherein the switch for themasthead light and the stern light is provided with a driver whichensures that, when switching it on, the sidelights are also switched on,if this has not been done previously.

At the same time, the toggle switch for the sidelights can be providedwith a driver which ensures that the switch for the anchor light isswitched off when switching on the sidelights. The function of thedriver can be assumed by an electrical or electronic circuit. By doingso, a possible maloperation is safely prevented and at the same time,the operation is simplified because the anchor light is automaticallyswitched off when switching on the sidelights or the masthead light orthe stern light.

In a particularly simple embodiment, the circuit configuration has amultiway switch (for example, combined rotary push-pull switch) with atleast two switching positions. In this connection, each switchingposition corresponds to one operational state of the watercraft, whereinby means of the multiway switch in one switching position all navigationlights required for a certain operational state are switched on and allother navigation lights are switched off. This provides the addedadvantage that it is no longer required to protect each position lightindividually by a fuse, but instead, protection of the circuit by asingle fuse for all navigation lights is sufficient because thenavigation lights are supplied with current by a single switch.Accordingly, at least four circuit breakers are saved, in general.

In particular, in addition to an off position, the multiway switch cancomprise a switching position for switching the navigation lights toindicate that the watercraft is moving. In this switching position thesidelights and the stern light are switched on for a sailboat. For aengine-powered vessel sidelights, masthead light and stern light shouldbe switched on simultaneously.

In particular for sailing vessel it is advantageous when a furtherswitching position is provided for the navigation lights to indicatethat the watercraft is power driven. In this switching position for asailing vessel, the masthead light is switched on simultaneously inaddition to the sidelights and the stern light.

In these two switching positions it is expedient when a functionalillumination of the deck is switched on simultaneously with theswitching of the navigation lights. The functional illumination can be,in particular, a compass illumination, an instrument illumination and/oran passageways illumination. In this case it is expedient when thefunctional illumination is supplied with current by a different circuitthan the navigation lights.

Finally, the multiway switch should have a switching position forswitching the navigation lights to indicate that the watercraft isanchored. In this switching position, only the anchor lights areswitched on while the other navigation lights are switched off.

Furthermore, switching positions for indicating that the watercraft ispartially and/or totally incapable of maneuvering, may be provided. Inthis case, the sidelights are switched off and—in the case of partialinability to maneuver—two red all-round lights are arranged atop oneanother and a white all-round light positioned therebetween, or—in thecase of complete inability to manoeuver—only two red all-round lightspositioned above one another are switched on.

In a preferred embodiment the multiway switch is a rotary switch. Arotary switch has a special advantage in comparison to a linearlyactuated toggle switch in that the switching position cannot be easilychanged accidentally because in order to actuate it, torque must beexerted onto the switch instead of a directed force.

The rotary switch can have additional switching planes switchable uponpull action and/or push action. Such switches are, for example, known inautomobiles for switching on the light wherein by means of a rotaryposition the low beams or the high beams can be switched on and,additionally, the fog tail light or the fog beams can be switched on bychanging a switching plane by pulling on the switch. In the presentcase, by means of the different switching planes, additional consumersof the watercraft can be switched on, for example, the deck illuminationor the cockpit illumination. However, for safety reasons attention mustbe paid that switching of the switching planes has no effect on theswitching of the navigation lights in order to prevent an accidentalswitching of the navigation lights.

Also, attention must be paid that the additional consumers, as well asthe functional illumination, are not supplied with current via thecircuit for the navigation lights.

In another preferred embodiment, the multiway switch is watertight sothat it can be used in the cockpit on deck. In another preferredembodiment of the invention, the circuit configuration comprises a logiccircuit which automatically switches the navigation lights as a functionof the operational state of the watercraft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail bymeans of the description of a preferred embodiment illustrated in theattached drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 7 show the circuit diagram of a circuit configuration for asailing vessel with a rotary switch with two switching planes andvarious switching positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of a circuit configuration for switchingnavigation lights of a sailing vessel with a rotary switch 1 in aswitching position 0, in which all navigation lights are switched off. Arotary switch 1 comprises an axially movable shaft (not illustrated), onwhich a display disk 1 a is secured which thus follows the movements ofthe shaft and is provided with symbols 1 b which show the operator in anobvious way the different vessel situations that are possible.

By means of this circuit configuration, on the one hand, a three-colorlantern A₁, red and green sidelights B₁, B₂, a white masthead light B₃,and a white stern light B₄ as well as an anchor light C₁ are switchableby rotation via the switching positions A, B, and C. In this, switchingposition A corresponds to the illustration of a sail on the display disk1 a of the rotary switch 1, switching position B corresponds to theconfiguration of a propeller, and switching position C corresponds tothe illustration of an anchor.

All navigation lights are switchable independently of other consumersand are protected by a fuse S₁.

Moreover, by changing the switch from a first plane I into a secondplane II further consumers can be switched. In particular, this can bethe deck illumination II₂. Even though the deck illumination is switchedby the same switch, it is, however, connected, to a separate circuit andprotected by its own circuit breaker S₂, as is functional illuminationII₁.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show that in a first switching position A, the three-colorlantern A₁ is switched on.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the circuit configuration in switching position B.The three-color lantern A₁ is switched off here. Instead, the sidelightsB₁, B₂ as well as the masthead light B₃ and the stern light B₄ areswitched on. Also, the functional illumination II₁ is switched on inthis situation. In the state according to FIG. 4, the deck illuminationis switched off.

In the switching positions A and B, the required functional illuminationII₁ is automatically switched on when switching the navigation lightson.

In the switching position C illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, only theanchor light C₁ of the navigation lights is switched on. Depending onthe embodiment of the circuit configuration, the functional illuminationII₁ can be switched on or off in this switching position.

Finally, in FIGS. 3, 5, and 7 it can be seen that in each of theswitching positions A, B, C, the deck illumination II₂ is switched on assoon as the rotary switch 1 is moved through pulling or pushing from thefirst switching plane I into the second switching plane II.

With a circuit configuration according to the invention it is possiblethat all functions which are required for switching the lights above thedeck of a watercraft are combined within only one switch and that theswitching of the lights can be carried out in a way which complies withthe regulations, excludes errors, and is facilitated by the displaysymbols.

What is claimed is:
 1. A circuit configuration for switching navigationlights of a watercraft, especially a sailing vessel, comprising meansthat prevent a position light configuration from not being in compliancewith regulations as well as means that prevent navigation lights thathave mutually exclusive meanings from being switched on at the sametime, characterized in that the circuit configuration comprises amultiway switch (1) with which the navigation lights as well asadditional lights, that are independent therefrom and at least one ofdirectly correlated and indirectly correlated with the watercraft (II₁,II₂), can be switched; in that the multiway switch (1) has at least twoswitching positions (0, A, B, C), with one switching position (A) forswitching the navigation lights to indicate that a sailing vessel ismoving; and in that via each of the switching positions (A, B, C), atleast one of a functional illumination on, under deck, and external tothe watercraft can be switched, in particular, a compass illumination,instrument illumination, or passageways illumination.
 2. A circuitconfiguration according to claim 1, characterized in that the functionalillumination is supplied with current by a different circuit than thenavigation lights.
 3. A circuit configuration according to claim 1,characterized in that the multiway switch (1) is formed as a combinedrotary push-pull switch.
 4. A circuit configuration according to claim1, characterized in that, in addition to the switching positions (0, A,B, C), a deck illumination is switched by a circuit, which isindependent of the navigation lights, by switching from one switchingplane (I) to another switching plane (II).
 5. A circuit configurationaccording to claim 1, characterized in that the multiway switchcomprises different switching planes switchable upon at least one ofpull action and push action.
 6. A circuit configuration according toclaim 1, characterized in that the multiway switch is watertight.
 7. Acircuit configuration according to claim 1, characterized by at leastone display disk (1 a).
 8. A circuit configuration according to claim 7,characterized in that the display disk (1 a) is fixedly secured on aswitch shaft.
 9. A circuit configuration according to claim 7,characterized by symbols (1 b) on the display disk symbolizing thepossible various craft situations.